Henley Halebrown’s finely crafted brick brutalist House in a Walled Garden offers austere luxury living with a sense of place
This low-profile brick build is artfully designed to complement its historic context of brick buildings of various ages, including ornate Edwardian terraces, Barnes’ 12th-century St Mary’s Church, and the 1906 Dutch Baroque-style Olympic Studios next door (the refurbishment of which was another HH project). The house references its neighbours but brings something new to the leafy west London “village”.
The design fuses two key traditions – the Scandinavian Modern low-lying architecture of monopitch roofs and that of the courtyard house – and adds a pinch of Gilbert Scott power station to create a beautifully detailed exemplar of domestic brutalism.
The building has a T-shaped plan, and is in two parts. The first, to the south, is single storey and constructed from oak with its Douglas fir glazed screen protected from the high-angle sun by the extended eave of a copper roof.
The main two-storey brick section of the house has a green roof. Dark brown Wienerberger Blue Velvets are set in monk bond, the same pattern as that of the nearby church, flush-pointed with lime mortar.
Inside, the hall, kitchen, dining room and library form an enfilade of rooms. Behind, at a lower level, are the breakfast room, living room and a craft workshop overlooking the garden. At lower ground level are a workshop, games room and guest suite. A linear skylight draws light into the centre of the house. From the hall, narrow steps lead up to a landing and three bedrooms and down to a sunken snug tucked under the lowest part of the sloping roof, where built-in benches-cum-bookshelves line the walls.
The interior is all about beautifully crafted simplicity: brick, timber and the terracotta floor – there’s an echo here of the best of the plate-glass universities. Some of the first-floor level windows are partially obscured by brick screens, which bring visual interest, dappled light, and thwart overheating, while a subtle touch of opulence comes from bronze Secco window frames.
Project details
Architect Henley Halebrown
Area 560m2
Project architect Neil Rogers
Main contractor Link to Build
Structural engineer Rodrigues Associates
Services engineer AJ Energy
Quantity surveyor Emmaus
Planning consultant DWD
Landscape architect Mike Benyon Garden Design
Postscript
All photos Nick Kane
